I don’t cook with orange as much as I should, but every time I do I fall in love with it all over again. Orange Chicken Thighs & Rice is pretty easy to make, so tasty and pretty on the plate. It’s also gluten-free and dairy-free too, so it ticks a lot of boxes!
Normally I would serve this with something like green beans on the side, but it could also be very nice with some asparagus, broccoli or Chilli Garlic Soya Beans.
If you’re looking for convenience, you could skip cooking the rice altogether and use microwave rice instead. 3 bags of microwave rice should do the trick and you can skip all the boiling & straining steps and go straight to folding in the orange zest. That said, it’s not terribly difficult to make the rice in this recipe and it will be a lot cheaper to cook it rather than going down the microwave route. Let’s get started!
Serves 4
Ingredients
- salt & pepper
- 300g long-grain white rice
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Zest of 2 oranges
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- Smallish knob of ginger, finely grated
- 300ml orange juice (using the zested oranges, plus more from either fresh or bottled)
- Handful of parsley leaves, finely chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220°C / 200° Fan / 400°F. Prepare a large roasting with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Fill a large saucepan with water and put on high heat until it comes to a rapid boil. Salt the water and pour in the rice. Stir it just once and return it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and cook uncovered at a low boil for 10 to 12 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked. One cooked, transfer to a seive in the sink to strain.
- Meanwhile season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt & pepper. Pour the oil into a large frying pan over medium heat. Place each thigh skin side down in the pan, making sure to rub it around to have pleny of oil on the skin to prevent sticking until all the thighs are in the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the skin is crispy. When the skins are crispy & golden, flip the thighs and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Transfer the browned thighs to the prepared roasting tin and leave them there to rest.
- Return the pan to the heat add the garlic & ginger. Cook while stirring for a minute or two until softening and then add the orange juice. Stir and scrape to deglaze the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook at a light bubble for 5 minutes or until slightly reduced.
- Pour the orange juice mixture over the chicken thighs and roast them in the oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
- While the chicken is still cooking and just before serving, rinse the rice in the sieve with some boiling water from the kettle. Return it to the pan and fluff with a fork. Using the fork, fold in the orange zest into the while rice.
- To serve, divide the rice between four plates or bowls. Top with 2 chicken thighs each, spoon over some pan sauce from the chicken roasting tin and sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Serve hot.
Tip: Save your chicken thigh bones and any scraps after the meal. Put them in the freezer in a zip lock back or other freezer safe container and use them when you’re making stock. Click here for my chicken stock recipe.
Click here for more delicious chicken recipes.
